Have to check the latest, Bluebear, but after the first day upon posting the petition, I believe we had seen some 4000+ sign it right off the bat. That was prior to the PDA declaration of "NO CONFIDENCE" when they sent the link to the petition to their 60,000+ membership list.

I just saw the post below, Brad! Thank you very much!! I noticed The Huffington Post has links to the "Top Gainers" on it's main page. The CA election presentation has been on the front page for the last several days!
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I fail to see what difference this makes when the spineless thus worthless Democrat that had the vote stolen from them refuses to even challenge the election.

We need to elect REAL candidates with a spine that have a desire to speak truth to power.
If that candidate happens to be a Green or Independent candidate then that is the way it should go, stop wasting time on these worthless democrats.

They disgust me.

We need a real 3rd & 4th party to take control of this mess.
It is beginning to be painfully obvious that the Democrats are really no better than the Neofascist rethuglicans.

This isn't going to make any difference so stop wasting time on it, the Neofascist spin machine will spread the complete BS GOPaganda and the ignorant masses will swallow every word of it and there is nothing we can do about it.
What can be done however is several 1000 groups taking high powered magnets or bats or whatever and destroying these machines pronto.
Time to end this BS and do it the ONLY way its going to happen.

The issue isn't Busby. The issue is honesty and transparency, which the GOP shun like garlic. Who cares who really won the election? The people who bothered to go to the polls and will never know the answer. Democracy? Hah...

To address these issues with Busby/Bilbray election fiasco,.. you folks out in California will have to take the incentive to bring some sort of action to remedy this failed election. If something is not done soon,.. the valid issues that have been raised will fall through the cracks and be ignored. These electronic machine vendors and the election administrators out there in California are well aware that their "fool/fail proof" system put into place is nothing more than a royal crock of dirty diaper waste.
You have caught them red handed,.. this "immaculate
election" was not within compliance with state or federal rules/laws.

Why do you think Hastert prematurely swore Bilbray in,..
and the media is launching balloons to celebrate his victory. It is propaganda,.. the mirage they want people to see is that this Dist. 50 election is a done deal,.. it is over,.. nothing to disgust,.. don't be a sore looser. Just go home and darn your old socks and crochet a few doilies,.. and come back in November and try your luck at the next election once again.

This election was not done within compliance of the law. It was a failed election,.. the results by law
can not be certified. If a fight is not put up to defend the election process,.. HEAR AND NOW,.. this may be the last chance to defend DEMOCRACY. If this failed election is allowed to pass and be ignored,.. FASCISM will gain a tight grip around the throat of this government,.. it may take decades to force that grip to be released.

We had better do something now,.. the next bend and turn in the road,.. leads to no man's or woman's
land,.. a place where few wish to go,... except Hitler
or Mussolini.

If action is brought it will have to be a resident of California,..

you folks are the injured/aggrieved/damaged parties who have standing to remedy this wrong. These shysters will
fight you tooth and nail and do not want their systems proved fallible.

Does anyone have a phonebook ? Could you look up the 800# of the ACLU,.. or The League of Women's Voters,..
quickly get them on the phone,.. LET THE WORLD KNOW
THE BIND DEMOCRACY HAS COME UNDER. Hurry - there is not much time to spare !

Your link on #4 about "Blackwell to deny individuals right to register to vote" is wrong. (NICE SPIN)

First of all, These changes were voted in during the last November election. You phrase it like Blackwell is doing this on his own. NO... IT'S THE LAW, AND IT THE PEOPLE OF OHIO VOTED THESE CHANGES.

Second, these laws were voted into law to stop voter fraud. Do you remember this...

Democrats were giving Crack Cocaine to a crackhead for voter registration cards. This law will stop this. Oh ya.. the voters of Ohio also passed a law to require voters to show a photo ID to vote. Another law to stop Dems from cheating.

"We had better do something now,.. the next bend and turn in the road,.. leads to no man's or woman's
land,.. a place where few wish to go,… except Hitler
or Mussolini."

From what I can see the law is no longer functioning when it comes to he democratic process.
I honestly think the only way to rid yourselves of these dictators is to starve them out. Don't buy coorporate products. When the money looks like its drying up they will jump to attention but not before.

You would need a big following of believers so getting the message out is a critical step. Brad is suceeding very well in that and making real progress.

Hell why not just offer them 10 million dollars each and amnesty. You might get some big squalkers. Its sick to think of them profiting from all this but hellava better than whats happening now. A sick, quick strategy to win. The Repugs will sell each other if the price is high enough. Money is their God.

Thanks for posting that. I'm very hopeful now of a happy ending with all the right people in jail where they belong. The big news created will stop facism happening at my end of the world.

And believe me we had one of our long time very moderate right wingers asking the question in a recent speech. "Is democracy the best system for putting food on the table" There are no (very) hungry people here and our economy is good at present, so what the hell that meant is a mystery, which I hope it remains forever.

The new comment preview box is just below. Can now read what I'm typing and have no excuse for posting garbage

OK so the comment preview window has disappeared, the preview window showed regular type but my post was Bold Itallic as you can see. The smile in the preview was not a real smile just dots and brackets but worked in the post so I don't need help on that.

We're told that Blackwell isn't responsible for what's going on in Ohio, because the people of Ohio VOTED FOR IT? Hmmm. On that basis, John Kerry has been president all along, because the people of Ohio VOTED FOR HIM in 2004.

This is the ultimate reducto ad absurdum. Justify election fraud in Ohio by claiming that people voted for it! Which is sort of like the White House justifying the war in Iraq by claiming a guy had weapons of mass destruction that he didn't have, and Congress agreed, based on phony intelligence.

Busby conceded; she's not fighting the results, isn't this a pretty much moot issue? Let it go and let's concentrate on the November elections. This is a run-off to fill the shoes of a convicted felon, and that's how we should treat this. It's not the big prize, ladies and gentlemen.

We can call foul on these voting procedures all we want, and there is really a simple solution to all of this.

Record every single one of your votes to a piece of paper, and as soon as you leave the station, stop at the nearest post office and MAIL it right back to yourself. There! You've got a paper trail of your vote, as clear as day, and able to stand up in any court.

I don't understand why NO ONE has taken this approach to something big like the DNC or MoveOn.Org, and organized some sort of "Mail Your Vote" movement.

Citizenspook is giving some plausable reasons why Karl Rove isn't indicted. Please read folks. I have a sinking feeling the courts may not be the answer if this is true. Any decision can be appealed and the Supreme Court just passed a decision that violates the bill of rights. Police don't have to knock before coming in your house. I agree with the comment upthread..We need to stop supporting anything Repub. now..Home Depot, DirectTV, Wal Mart and taxes. Their god is money. If Fitzgerald has been stopped..They are desperate and not trying to show a semblance of law.

Special Counsel - Patrick Fitzgerald may not be the alter boy we thought we got,..

A perspective from a blogger on the subject,..

Actually...it's rusting government.

Let's see --- so far...

...we've had Karen Ryan, fake "happy hour" stories about Medicare, the myth of the "Death Tax", the "Brooks Brothers riot" in Florida, hyped "condition orange" terror alerts, "Brownie, you're doing one hell of a job," and there's that one about Building #7 at the WTC falling into its footprint --- that one's a real howler, and how depleted uranium is actually good for you.

But here's one that just about no one ever mentions. That Patrick Fitzgerald is a Federalist Society superstar and has ties to the Heartland Institute in Chicago --- which is one giant PR utility and apologist (via "junk" science, flat earth theory, creationist type tubthumpers) for the tobacco, auto, petroleum, power grid, electronic voting industries --- you name it. Heartland also provides something called "PolicyBot" ("policy" + "bot") to put one in touch with the appropriate ultra-conservative to convince you that you'd be better off if you became a "ro" + "bot."

There's also some evidence to suggest that Heartland can dispatch a "rapid response team" whenever some "pinko" gets out of line --- anywhere in the US --- and makes some big stink about environmental law, poverty, or tax cuts for the wealthy.

Gee...and Fitzy looks like such a nice boy in the papers and on the telly.

Citizenspook is well meaning, but he did quite a hack job of explaining the concept of the federal grand jury.

Wikipedia has a useful article about the subject (link here), and I recommend it over Citizenspook.

I have explained it in the Rove context here on this blog in the past, but I doubt any of the links will work any longer since the software here has changed.

Wiki is adequate, since most folk don't give a damn anyway, but just in case anyone wants to know how the DOJ looks at a grand jury, I include this link.

And for those who can't study anything without reading an antique discussion of the subject, I offer A History of Juries.

But the bottom line, as to electronic voting machines, is the same as in the Rove situation, and that bottom line is that power has corrupted the republican dictatorship beyond recognition as an American entity.

I loved that video so much when I first saw it, linked on HuffPo almost a year ago, that I tracked down the guy who did it, and found out how to download it onto my brand spanking new iMac. I watch it frequently! If I ever can get good at this stuff, I want to upload it to YouTube and other places. He did a number of versions, and the guy is a heart-filled genius in my book. Thanks for the link, anyway!

Every American citizen, of age, and not otherwise deprived of civil liberties by law (like Florida felons who have paid their debt to society), has the right to vote. That is a federal constitutional right. Implicit in that right is the right to have your vote counted. Governmental actions which impair the right to vote or the right to have that vote counted, is a violation of civil rights and gives rise to a tort claim under section 1983 against the governmental entities who deprive citizens of their right to vote.

That means that CA voters have standing to bring such a claim despite the non-action of Busby. Pick 5 or 10 or 20 or 50 voters in 1 or 2 or 10 or 30 CA counties and file a Section 1983 lawsuit in federal court.

California is known for its liberal judges. They WILL support the constitutional right to vote and have the vote counted. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will affirm that decision. And if the US Supreme Court actually has the partisan will to overturn that decision, the numbskulls who populate this country may finally catch on to what has happened .... and has been happening since at lease 2000. Is Fox news going to report it? That will be a conundrum ... report the Republican "victory" (not)and expose how far this country has fallen .... or, ignore the matter and hope no one notices that votes are irrelevant (because Fox serves its corporate interests, not the public interests of its Republican viewers).

Too bad many fall for it hook, line, and sinker. Blame the victim for the crime which the perpetrator and election officials did.""
----------------------------------------------------

Im not sure I follow you exactly, if you mean that Busby is the "Victim" (Which she is) and that I am blaming her for the crime of Election fraud, then NO, im not blaming her for the CRIME however I do place the blame on her for not F&^king standing up and taking the initiative to STOP this Crime and shine the spotlight on it.
Goes right back to exactly what Kerry did in 04', seemingly all these Democrats just cant get to the podium fast enough doing cartwheels falling all over themselves to concede as fast as humanly possible then remain silent about any possibility of election fraud even though the evidence for it is profound and abundant.

Let me ask you, lets say YOU were robbed, your house broken into, there is copious amounts of evidence all around, finger prints, tracks, motive, etc.
Then YOU do not go to the police to report this crime, You dont do jack shit, when asked about it you clam up and say nothing.
Meanwhile all your neighbors not wanting this thief to come break into their houses ask YOU to report it, SPEAK THE F&^K UP! and do something and still you refuse, all your neighbors try in vain to do something, to get the police to investigate to take finger prints etc before the case goes cold, fingerprints erased, tracks covered-up, stories & alibi's fabricated to cover motive and so on.

The police say, so was YOUR house robbed? the neighbors say Umm well no, Dredds house was.
Then you have no standing, so why doesn't Dredd file a report they ask? You all must be mistaken.

Unless she takes the initiative and stands up for democracy against what is obviously a fraudulent or at least "illegal" election, then all her neighbors stomping around complaining about it isn't worth a damn.
That also goes for EVERY single Democratic politician that is not DEMANDING something be done about it.

Now if that is a "republican talking point" well then maybe they are right and we need to follow their lead because these sorry ass spineless Democrats are getting on my nerves.

Every American citizen, of age, and not otherwise deprived of civil liberties by law (like Florida felons who have paid their debt to society), has the right to vote. That is a federal constitutional right.

ACtually, no, they don't. Which is kind of remarkable. Hency Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has a Constitutional Amendment which he has proposed to that effect.

Unlike the one banning gay marriage, however, the Republican have now allowed Jackson's bill to come up for a vote or even committee mark-up as far as I know.

"Software testing is aimed at finding unintended malfunctions, not intentional ones. No affordable testing plan will detect all the possible ways the layers of hardware and software can be deliberately manipulated to skew a result. It is always possible for a single person involved in handling the software for the proposed system, one George Redmond, to deliberately manipulate the results. There are enormous incentives to do this to a election." link

It seems that it is no longer possible to post pictures. I have tried the old code but it doesn't work, and even some of the pro's have asked about it. It was fun, but it also used a lot of bandwidth. With the popularity of this site growing so large lately bandwidth may be at a premium.

Also since we were pulling the images from all over the internet there may have been some copyright issues.

Awareness is the first stage of problem-solving. The problem is election fraud, of course. Although bradbloggers achieved awareness years ago, the same is not true for the masses. However, it was good to see the Diebold problem addressed by PBS News Hour last week.

The second stage of problem-solving is the "fix". It seems that a paper trail is the only fix that is suitable. This is a 50-state problem that will take a long time to complete. I am recommending that everyone vote absentee as I do in every election.

The third stage of problem-solving is "prevention". That is the hardest step. I believe that our only chance to achieve prevention is to work for the Dems. No third party will be viable in our lifetime.

Sorry to be late to the discussion, AOL had me blocked from bradblog for a week. Great work as usual, Brad. It seems that comedians are leading us out of the darkness.

Hmn think you might be taking the wrap for me re the "Cap Lock" scandal.
Am just typing with no HTML. I copied and pasted a link to your post which was in Bold Italic into the comment window. My whole post turned out that way.
Sorry folks.

Do I have to use HTML or is it sufficient to just type, badly? Seems to work but please correct me if Im wrong.

Well I think we should be able to suspend those pesky
copyright issues,.. at least until Nov. 2006,.. we
are on a real important mission here.

It is good that Brad made some changes though,.. to protect this sight from infiltration of people who
would like to do this site harm. This is one of the few avenues out there delving into these issues. I am sure there are many out there that would like that this blog crash,.. and stay crashed up to November 2006. The lock out and control features do not necessitate that Brad babysit this 24/7 to keep this communication system on line. The bells and whistles
are secondary,.. the message getting out is imperative,.. if there is any hope to keep the fascists in check,.. and turn the tides against them.

I hope and pray come election day,..we can celebrate the resurrection of Democracy,.. and return fascism to its cage.

just like a call in a baseball game, you folks may say the call was wrong but just wait and see what gets put in the books.

no one likes you and we will not vote for folks that think like you. Folks that never trust anything or anyone will never be trusted by anyone. keep this up. I love it. shout louder and make bigger fools of yourself. drive everyone away from the polls bacause as you say "they don't count anyway".

I think the caps lock thing was me,.. I finished up a
comment entry,.. and went back to add a forgotten link,.. then everything went caps lock and italic.
It got stuck real good (bad). But if you insist and want to share in some of the blame,.. that would be very thoughtful of you.

The HTML inquiry,.. sorry I can not help there,.. I
have an adjustment that needs be made. I type out my
comment/message and everything is lined up real nice.
Then when I send the lines come out all gumbalaya,..
jump all over the place,.. leaving odd gaps that were not there previously.

Forget this computer stuff,.. I think we should just send each other post cards. Of course then we would not
dethrone Hitler,.. as quick as we might have otherwise.

Must be OK to just type cause no ones said anything. I'm not from New England or your country but do have some close family members living in the US. Ones a christian, thinks Im evil and would probably do an exorcism if I visited the Country.

I really have no right to offer advice about whats going down over there but feel compelled to. The stirings of facism and hatred are alive and well here where I live. Im not telling you where becuase right now Im lying low doing what I can to get the message out without being publicly destroyed in the media which is becomming a sport here. The facists here probably see me as public enemy number 236. They get quite angry when you go around alerting people to what they are up to.

We just had an election last year and they nearly got elected but not quite. After 10 years or more of promoting antisocialism policies "Every dog for themselves" and having poll ratings in the low 30%'s they suddenly changed their tune and started promising tax breaks for the rich and to keep social services. But the fact is they hate welfare especially for women with children who have the nerve to leave their husbands. Talk to them personally and the venear comes down pretty quick. They have become over the years a right wing religious party even though they keep their strong connections with conserative churches quiet. They know they will not be elected if they campaign on their mean hateful policies so they are taking a leaf from Bush and pretending to be otherwise.

E-voting and flipping elections would be the only way they could hold power and do what they want so badly to do in this part of the world.

If we can keep the facist dickat's out here and other western nations then if things get too bad over there you can all claim refugee status and emigrate to a free country. We must keep e-voting out of Australia though cause it has the most available land (they are trialing e-voting with no paper trails there). There are quite a lot of you hence Australia is ideal. If George and his Aristocrat slave keepers loose their slaves they will be in major trouble "where are the servants " and will have to listen to you. Then you can all return to your great country.

Well,.. Sally,.. it really matters not where you call home on this planet,.. that is of little significance.
We all have hopes and dreams for ourselves and love ones,.. and there is a commonality when it comes to fulfilling our day to day needs. Your visits,.. perspectives and input here to this blog are welcomed and encouraged. We all have a little to teach and learn from each other,.. this blog offers a very dynamic mix of points and counter points of opinions. Sometimes it is just amazing to sit back and watch people here as they act and interact with one other as they gently struggle to advance the cause of society and humankind.

Some people of this world think all Americans are a selfish, greedy and materialistic lot. Some maybe,. many are not,.. there is not a lot of that nonsense going on here. Here you will find a mix of intelligent individuals who genuinely care about the path and direction our society is headed. They are intolerant
of those who comfort themselves in the selfishness of
hypocrisy,.. corporatism,.. and Fascism. It is refreshing to see these people in motion as they formulate plans to achieve improvements and put things back on track.

So wherever you are located on this planet Sally,.. tell your friends and neighbors there still are some
nice Americans left. We are disgusted and ashamed of what our government/country has become and we intend with all are might to bring change and corrective action to restore the pride that we have somehow lost. So please visit,.. bring encouragement often and wish us well in this struggle.

I tell people about this Blog and they love it. This is one of the only Blogs on the whole web that I have any time for. There are of course a multitude of them that I have never seen. The pro Brad anti evoting people here are the best in my book. The others are precious too as all people are, but its a little harder for me to tolerate their opinions especially when they wish to force their ideas on your life.

It is very refreshing to see a different view of America in you people. As a child I remember thinking it was not a place I would care to travel to because of the superficial commercialism. England and Europe seemed more interesting to me. Obviously my opinion was formed on shallow ground. I love the straight talking on this blog and your very good intellegent humour. Ofcourse the most important factor is the huge importance of what is been said and needs to be said so badly.

Issues 2, 3, 4 & 5 that were on the Ohio ballot last November were sold by "liberals" as VOTER REFORM, but the spin didn't work.

State Issue 2 would allow a voter to essentially cast two ballots in an election - one by absentee ballot and the other by provisional ballot.

Now, after we pointed that out, our confused left-wing friends accused us of being "misleading." In fact, they added, "There's a name for people who deliberately cast a provisional and absentee ballot...it's criminal."

Well, again, here's the actual ballot language:

An elector to whom a ballot has been mailed, but which has not been received by the issuing county board of elections prior to the election, may cast a provisional ballot on election day. If the elector’s first ballot is received by the tenth day following the election, the provisional ballot shall not be counted.

So let's review...

Ballot #1: "An elector to whom a ballot has been mailed" (in other words, an absentee ballot)

Ballot #2: "may cast a provisional ballot on election day"

There you have it. Issue 2 does in fact allow a voter to cast TWO ballots, and it's up to county election boards to weed out the double votes.

Concerning your comment #26 ... you should probally understand ISSUES 2, 3, 4, & 5 that were on the ballot last November in Ohio instead of just spouting "talking points", that way you wouldn't look like an ignorant hillbilly.

Soul, that just shows to go ya that if you can cut through the media crap, and connect with the people directly around the reich wing spin, it shows who is in the majority
the people would vote for anyone who shows the least bit of honesty, i.e. Wellstone (provided the game isn't rigged in your area)

For Florida Dave: Sorry if I sound like an ignorant hillbilly. I don't care how many propositions Ohio put on the ballot; if votes can be flipped according to the wishes of the vote counters, you can write a hundred propositions, all in sanskrit, and it wouldn't matter. The point is not what people were voting on, it's whether their votes were counted honestly.

Just to illustrate the attitude of Ohio election officials, I posted the response of Sen. Tom Niehaus to a letter I signed onto elsewhere here on Bradblog. You might look for it (RawStory might also highlight it today). Niehaus received a request to "do the right thing" regarding voter registration in Ohio from me and hundreds of other citizens. He responded "I demand that you mind your own business."

Would such an attitude from a state senator give you confidence that Ohio is a clean state in re elections? Or is that just an ignorant question on my part?

"You haven't answered the question about what should republicans do about it?

They have the power. Therefore they have the responsibility. So what have you told them?

With power comes accountability, and accountability is not met by blaming the other party. It is only met by using the power properly.

Again I ask, what would you have them do?"
-----------------------------------------------------

Well considering 99.9% of the Rethuglicans and about 80% of the Democratic politicians are all corrupt as hell, they know exactly what they are doing and have no intentions of correcting it.
The rethugs know perfectly well if they admit the elections were stolen and then give us a Democracy once again that not only would they lose power on a dramatic scale but many would be going to prison, so rethugs would sooner plant a dozen Nukes around this country and murder 50 Million American citizens in yet another staged false flag terrorist attack than have legal elections and democracy back.

I dont believe for one second that all politicians in Washington aren't fully aware that in fact this administration is part of a Cabal that has attacked this country and murdered at least 3000 American citizens on 9/11, which BTW the evidence for that is equally as strong as the evidence for election/voter fraud.
So if they are willing to overlook, go along with, be part of something that treasonous and abhorrent then stealing elections is child's play and a mandatory crime in order to keep to the right criminals in power.
Yes I have answered the question of what "republicans should do about it"? They aren't going to do a damn thing about it and neither are most Democrats, this is a "We the People" solution, there is only ONE way this problem will be resolved and that is for Millions of US citizens to TAKE this country back before it is too late.

Nunya, there is alot of people that want this to be a "Totaliarian Police State", My Dad was one of them
He fought in WWII as an infantryman in the Phillipines and just before he died he told me Hitler had it right in his mind, (the Fascist part, not the Jew killing part...I don't think)He thought that too many small groups had too much influence on what laws were passed and the "middle of the roaders" got stuck with the shit from both sides
He was a "kill them all and let God sort em out" type
needless to say, we didn't see eye to eye on any of that that
His mom was a Calvinist type that never had two pennies to rub together, Carrie Nations was her hero
She never had Running water until 1964 (out to the windmill before that)
But she believed if you got rich, it was Gods curse on you
A couple Generations ago, and how they thought

Dredd: We all know the Republicans are not going to do anything about anything. That's why we don't vote for them. The question is, why are the Dems silent about vote fraud on e-vote machines? And why isn't Busby flying off the handle requesting a hand recount? Like Rossi did against Gregoire?

In order for the Dems to keep my backing, they have to start doing what I want, what WE want. Not just "not doing what the Republicans are doing."

Here's what I don't get about rightwingers (HCOCDR for example). We are all on the same side: Citizens against corrupt government. We're on their side. Are they FOR corrupt government? Then they have zero integrity, and their opinion is not valid. This is not a football game, where you root for your team no matter what. If the Republicans are corrupt and not cleaning up their own ranks, you have to be against them, because they are against you, then..... If the Republicans are corrupt, they are against HCOCDR, but he's too stupid to know this. OUR interests of being against corrupt politicians is the interest of ALL American citizens.

i signed this thing last wednesday and it showed up at my local paper on friday! they printed it as a letter to the editor in what I would consider to be a deeply conservative district. this issue cuts across all party lines however. sign it!

Nunya, there is alot of people that want this to be a "Totaliarian Police State",
-------------------------------------

I dont doubt that, and 99+% of those Fascist are religious zealots.. "Christofascist".

If those of us not deluded by the Psychosis of Religion do not stand up NOW and in massive numbers then these Christofascist will get their way.
When someone has given up on factual reality, were facts mean nothing to them and their entire life revolves around fairytales based solely on faith then there is no reasoning with such individuals, their reasoning, logical, rational mind has been destroyed.

I think the reason the Dems are silent on vote fraud is because they are getting big money donations (& graft $, no doubt) from the same huge corporations that the Repubs are.
The huge corporations give money to both parties.
No, it's not right that the Dems don't speak up but understand I'm just saying why I think they don't.
If they would "spill the beans" in earnest about vote fraud, or try & impeach Bush & Cheney let's say--cause big money does not want their homeboys in jail--they & possibly their entire party as payback, might never get another donation from the big guys with big money. Or they might suffer political suicide (Bush probably has something lethal on everyone with his spying) or even really be "suicided", not just politically.
Yes, they SHOULD stand up even so, because since they send our troops out to die for "Democracy" supposedly, then THEY need to be willing to do the same. But we don't have people of that caliber in office.
The system we are now using fosters corruption. I can no longer add to that---"but it's the best system on earth" anymore.
I recently stumbled upon a better way to do it, I believe.
A few tweaks to our current system, & the current mess could be turned around with something called the "National Initiative", which gives law-making power to the People & adds us as a new check & balance & a force to be reckoned with.
It's not the voting itself that gives power in our current form of government. (Once they get in office, they do whatever they want & ignore us anyway.)
It's the law-making that gives power. The laws govern every single thing including who can vote & how, etc. (Well, we know all about THAT here on BradBlog.)
This new National Initiative introduced by former Senator Mike Gravel from Alaska, a Dem who is running for Pres in 2008, is a good answer to our current mess & it's feasible, I believe. Gravel's website says Switzerland has been doing this for 150 years & 23 of our own States also. gravel2008.us
I already voted for it.
I'm still checking out Mike Gravel, but I've found nothing negative & a whole lot of positives so far. He did stand up to power in the past.

Charlene --- I'll have to read that initiative before judging it. (Will try to get to it soon.) But I must say I was a big fan of Mike Gravel at one time. I don't know any other senator who was so able to "think outside of the box." He was known for that talent even years ago. Some people thought he was downright crazy, but that's OK! He hated the the way Congress works and it almost did drive him nuts.

Regardless of the initiative, it's good to see him back in action.

BTW, speaking of corporate government, did you see this (Dems receiving a bigger share of the pie). Good? Bad? Fuel for the neverending Brad Blog debate?

For Big Dan: My take on HCOCDR and most right-wing trolls isn't that they're for crooked elections, or even that they approve of most of Bush's antics. They're simply AGAINST LIBERALS. If we sound liberal, then they're against whatever we say. If they can't really argue against it (for example, if we say the Iraq business is costing too much money), they say nothing. On any contentious issue, they attack us not for what we say but simply for being hated liberals as we say it. It's McCarthyism, except he used "Commie" instead of "liberal" as a pejorative.

Note that Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, etc. seldom if ever take a stand of their own on any issue. Instead they accuse liberals of being unpatriotic, conspiracy theorists, soft on terrorism, Godless, against the troops, anti-business, Bush haters, and worse. Don't expect a right-wing troll to engage you in honest debate, because almost by definition that's not what a troll does. A troll just attacks the enemy.

Iknow, I know, aint that a kick in the shorts
But we shall have to wait and see until AFTER the sElection to see if that holds sway (if they get the majority in the first place)
These next couple of go rounds will tell if we're going into the streets or not

Floridiot --- It's like the U.S. is in a cancer ward, and we are doing all we can to stop the spread of the disease (corporatism), and the patient develops pneumonia (the neocons)-- so we, of course, throw our energies into battling the most acute threat. (Not that they are not related.)

I'm glad I learned early that life is no fucking bed of roses. Otherwise, I might be discouraged!

Nothing to do but to throw ourselves into our work - and, yes (to be dramatic).. our destiny.